At our web site agency LaDezign.com, we’ve been working on a “4 Dimension” roadmap to online success. We put every web project - whether it’s an ecommerce web store, an SEO client or a web site design project - through this 4 step strategy which we call Define, Design, Deploy, Deliver.

The entire thrust of this “4-D” process is to maximize results at the most efficient level of ROI.

Here’s an example that explains this process using the prism of PPC advertising. The challenge: how do we define a targeted PPC strategy, that will include high converting and well designed landing pages, which can be deployed quickly and adjusted quickly and on a platform that enables us to rapidly measure results and deliver a high value to customers. So the starting point to this challenge is identifying our targeted audience because we need to deliver our advertising message to a prospect that is likely to become a customer. Once we figure out our audience, then we need to identify where he “shops”, where he “browses” and what times he does these things.

Once you see this process coming to life it leads you to a strategy related to PPC optimization that is more colloquially known as Dayparting. If you are doing search engine optimization, you most likely are also spending money on PPC ads. There is a strategy of PPC advertising called “Dayparting” which is a popular way to make your pay-per-click dollars work smarter.

With Dayparting you dictate when ads are delivered time and day. This means you as the advertiser can turn off paid advertising during periods of low or poor conversion and turn your ads back on during times when conversions are best. If you are measuring your conversions you should expect to see a nice boost in your ROI because it means you are flashing your wares at times when customers are most likely to convert.

How To set up Dayparting PPC Periods:

1. Compare ad delivery times to your targeted customer demographic habits. You will need to know who you are targeting, what they search for and what they actually buy (as opposed to just window shop). Install Google analytics so you can compare visits to interactions and get a more realistic idea of your customer behavior.

2. Adjust your ads so that they display during high conversion time slots. So if conversions spike during lunch breaks, then set your ads to display during those times.

3. Track Results and do it again Again, your analytics software will help you figure out the best roadmap to efficient ROI results. How to do this with Google AdWords (you can find info on Microsoft separately):

• Pick YOUR time zone to target.
• Click the Edit Campaign Settings link in your account admin area
• Turn on “ad scheduling”
• Pick the days and times to run the ads (Use “Bulk Edit” to set multiple time periods)

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As high tech as it is in Los Angeles, I’m constantly running out of memory with my Vista PC. Maybe it’s because I am switching between programs because sometimes I am in web site design mode, sometimes in SEO mode and sometimes in just reading emails mode. So I am sure I would be better off if I could see where my system is getting dragged down into the muck of overload.

System Explorer software is a full-featured system analyzing tool lets you take a sneak peek at everything that’s going on in your system, from currently active processes to installed drivers, including also network collections, startup applications and Internet Explorer add-ons, if you have any. You can end any active process or delete items from the startup menu, to name a couple of examples. System Explorer has the possibility to obtain more information about each process from google, or check it for virus with an online anti-virus tool. The program includes loads of other interesting features. Version 1.5 includes support for external and internal plugins, filtering support to lists, and new plugin adds security enhancements.

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I received this email today from Ian Traynor about Kontera, a novel way of monetizing content-oriented websites. I haven’t yet tested it on our web design clients, but it seems very interesting at first glance especially if you are looking for PPC revenues or cost reductions. Unlike Google’s AdSense program, which places highly visual advertisements (ie. adverts) on your web pages, Kontera scans the words on a web page and, if it finds a word which one of its advertisers has bid for, it hyperlinks the word with a double underline. When the website visitor hovers over the word, a small popup appears next to the word with the a.dvert.

If the visitor then cl.icks on the a.d, the website owner gets a small commission.

In the past Google’s Terms of Service (”TOS”) would not allow you to use this type of contextual a.dvertising on the same page that you were running AdSense. However, the TOS has now been changed so it is “legal” to run both types of a.dverts.

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When you do SEO, it helps to blog. Take a look at the information for this new blogging for success site launch. Jack talks about it on his Friday report. Jack is approaching that stage where he’s just shy of being an old-timer. But like the elders in the Bible, he’s still in charge and know’s what works online.

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Ok. Since I am so webcentric being so consumed with my web site design and seo rankings business, it makes perfect sense that my kids would pick up some web knowledge just by osmosis. I know things move pretty quickly in Los Angeles and now one of daughters is addicted to email and this brings up an interesting conundrum as a parent. How much do i want my kids to experience personal freedom so that they are able to grow up and mature into therapist free adults. And in this age of instant “on” where everything is up for grabs, how do i set limits on their exposure to the world at large.

Hence, monitoring software. There are plenty of safe surfing tools to try to keep locked into specific web sites but at the end of the day they can get around the limits you place. So I am more inclined to let them feel they are free and to guide them just a little bit less than a back street driver and yet i still want to maintain some sort of protective control over what they do online. So with free monitoring software I can see what they do and though I risk them hitting bad sites or doing things online that are lacking in good judgement, at least I can find out after the fact and then try to take steps to stop it in the future. It’s a catch 22 situation and I err on the side of letting them try new things and seeing if they can on their own make the right decisions.

If you are on my side of the fence, you may want to check out All in One Keylogger which lets you to read your family members chat conversations, look at their e-mails, and sites they have surfed. By activating All in One Keylogger, you can monitor everything including blocking unwanted sites/programs. The Key Logger allows you to register all keystrokes typed, including language-specific characters, talk and messages conversations, passwords, e-mails, clipboard, microphone sounds, captured screenshots, desktop, and Internet activity.

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Though I sell my own ecommerce shopping cart platform called WebCart, I still use another platform now for my personal blog. It’s called WordPress and for now it is a great blogging platform for search engine optimization purposes. The first rule of on-page optimization for SEO is fresh, update content, and wordpress is a great tool for taking content out of your head and putting it online. Time though is a big killer and any chance I have to speed up the process of transfering mind thoughts into matter makes me really happy. Below is a list of shortcuts that will make your days of web publishing that much easier.

A short note that Windows and Linux use Ctrl + letter. Macintosh uses Command + letter.

Letter Action

c - Copy
v - Paste
x - Cut
a - Select all
z - Undo
y - Redo
b - Bold
i - Italic
u - Underline
1 - Header 1
2 - Header 2
3 - Header 3
4 - Header 4
5 - Header 5
6 - Header 6
9 - Address

The following shortcuts use these keys: Alt + Shift + letter.

Letter Action

n - Check Spelling
l - Align Left
j - Justify Text
c - Align Center
d - Strikethrough
r - Align Right
u - • List {bullet list}
o - 1. List {numbered list}
a - Insert link
s - Remove link
q - Quote
m - Insert Image
g - Full Screen
t - Insert More Tag
p - Insert Page Break tag
h - Help
e - Switch to HTML mode

Hope these shortcuts help you blog and format your post faster. The more you try them out the more you will ask yourself how you did it before?

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This is a new freeware editing software that makes it really easy to make changes to content within files without having to open up all the files. For my search engine optimization campaigns this is a really great tool.

Multiple Find And Replace finds and replaces batches of files. You don’t have to open all of your files and apply the find&replace operation one by one. Also, the program includes an advanced command system that can change the find and replace strings in run-time. This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.

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OK. to remind you, it’s easy to switch between windows by using the ALT-TAB shortcut. But what if like me, you don’t open a lot of windows but just a lot of tabs. Well there’s a way to switch between tabs with the new Internet Explorer 7! Here’s what you have to do. Just press CNTRL-TAB on your keyboard and that will allow you to switch between tabs within 1 Internet Explorer window. Using Alt-TAB will still work to switch you between active windows on your computer.

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This is a great program that you don’t need to be in the web site design business to love. IrfanView is a fast and compact image viewer/converter. It is trying to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. Many supported file formats and features. Features include: multi-language support, Thumbnail option, Painting, slideshow, toolbar skins, fast directory browsing, batch conversion/editing, multipage editing, file search, change color depth, scanning, cut/crop, IPTC edit, capturing, lossless JPG operations, effects, ICC support, EXE/SCR creating, many hotkeys, command line options and plugins.

They’ve just released Irfanview Version 4.2 which you can download now and enjoy some new features which add Basic Unicode support and new options.

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Launching an ecommerce web store online for the upcoming holiday season. Here’s the top 7 items to ensure your online web store success.

1. Visit your Competition online including top of the line ecommerce sites www.amazon.com, www.ebay.com, www.apple.com (always a winner for new hot looks), www.circuitcity.com, www.nordstrom.com and see if you can figure out the “best practices” between the sites - like putting a toll free number on the top right.
2. Just look at each site and figure out the CORE effects you will want to be on your site which stands for web text that is Convincing, a value that is just slightly less than Outrageous, credibility that is Realistic, and an Ecommerce platform that is intuitive and sensible.  
3. Don’t do it all yourself. Working with an expert individual or experienced team of professionals is a wise investment. Once you’ve compiled your CORE list of what you need and what you don’t then consider hiring at the very least a project manager who has the ability to see your project through from beginning to completion. This will include helping you build your Web site, host it, register your domain name, maintain the site once it’s up and running and troubleshoot problems as they arise.
4. Get an ecommerce shopping cart. This is where i get to shameless plug my WebCart platform. The shopping cart platform is the online software that enables customers to select, order and pay for the goods and services they require. Multiple payment options like credit card, paypal, or even bill me later, make it simple for your customers to place an order.
5. Set up your merchant account and your gateway account. This will enable you to accept orders and payments for Amex, Visa, Mastercard and even Discover. The goal is to make product selection and payment as convenient and secure as possible for your customers and for you.
6. Load up the products in your online catalog. Make sure that the organization of your online store is logical and intuitive. Your customers need to be able to find what they want quickly and easily, through intuitive links to product categories and an efficient product search function. At the back end, a good Web services provider will make it easy to add products, change prices and manage all of the technical details that help you “manage your store.”
7. Make buying easy and secure. Design your site to ensure a seamless, one-click flow between shopping and checkout/purchase. And if you want to prosper online, your customer’s personal information must be absolutely secure. Your Web services provider will help you purchase and install a secure Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate from a company like GeoTrust.

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